The Company Dinner

Just before Christmas, we went to Herr J's company dinner. Well, at least the local management part of it...there are thousands of employees, so it was a smaller subset.

Very interesting for me, as it was my first real corporate German company outing.  Lots of speeches, a few awards, and small talk.  It was held at a beautiful chateau-type hotel in the country outside of Munich, at the Gut Sonnenhausen.

A gorgeous scene - a full moon shone over the snowcovered grounds and we were greeted at the entrance by a warm fire pit and a lady serving glühwein.

I also discovered the huge challenge posed when combining black tie with public transportation and snowstorms.  The streets are too wet, cold, and snowy to wear nice shoes - or anything other than cozy boots! And you have to carry the hem of your dress, as floor-length silk does not mix well with snow and de-icing salt. So, I wore shearling boots and carried heels in my purse.

As a good Southern girl, I'm ashamed to admit that I just kept the boots on all night, and laughing at myself. But no one noticed or seemed to care, as very few had actually shown up in black tie.

We did have one special guest, who was properly attired....one of the hotel's resident cats, who decided to hop from chair to chair, joining the guests for aftet dinner drinks.  

As with the dogs here, he was unusually well-behaved. And for a cat, I mean that he came when asked, and politely moved to another empty chair when someone wanted theirs back. Odd for a cat... But it was quite a cute little surprise. I love seeing cats in bookstores, flowershops, and antique stores - somehow it just seems right to have a cat lounging in the sunny window in those settings!

Krapfen Season

Germany has many "seasons"....asparagus season, mushroom season, truffel season, starkbier season, fruit season, etc.

After New Year's comes Krapfen Season...and this year brings new varieties!

What are krapfen? In their original form, they're basically jelly donuts. Known in other areas of Germany as "Berliners," which is what JFK amusingly called himself in his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
It's yet another example of German linguistic diversity - In most of Germany they are "Berliners," but in Bavaria they are "Krapfen" and in Berlin and the surrounding states of Brandenburg and Saxony, they are Pfannkuchen (which are what the rest of Germany calls pancakes).  And they have other names in other very small regions. Yes, confusing...especially to us non-native speakers. I've only lived in Bavaria, so I sometimes discover that what I think is German is really Bavarian.

But, back to the tasty pastries... Traditional Krapfen are light, sweet donuts filled with jam (usually apricot, plum, or berry) and topped with powdered sugar, glaze or chocolate. They also are often filled with custard or chocolate.

Since krapfen are traditionally eaten on New Years Eve and during Fasching (Carnival, Mardi Gras, etc), the krapfen season runs from New Years to Lent. We are in full swing now!

Normally, we don't see too much beyond chocolate, but this year, they've invented some new varieties. Some are traditional filled donuts, but others are more like deconstructed jelly donuts....with the filling sandwiched between two halves of the donut and with a topping.

Here we have traditional krapfen (apricot filled with powdered sugar), then Heart Krapfen (straberry jam-filled with a heart-shaped sugar dusting), and the Tiramisu Krapfen. More on those later....

From left to right, Raspberry Krapfen (raspberry mousse filling with raspberry glaze), Black Forest Krapfen (cream-filled, with chocolate topping, chocolate flakes, and cherry), Tiramisu Krapfen, and Vanilla Krapfen (vanilla mousse with sugar glaze).

 And of course, Chocolate. Not sure if these are filled with chocolate cream or custard, but they look delicious!

Herr J and I tried the Tiramisu and Vanilla. (We'll try the others soon....Black Forest and Chocolate are high on the list!)
Both were great choices, but we both liked the Vanilla slightly better. The Tiramisu did indeed taste like tiramisu, with a fluffy espresso/kahlua flavored cream in the middle and cocoa powder on top. But the Vanilla would be my choice for eating a whole one. It was the same fluffy filling, but with a very delicate vanilla flavor, balanced by the sugary glaze. And the donut part of both were light, chewy, and perfectly flavored.

Just be careful eating them...they're impossible to eat without spilling sugar (or cocoa) on you or dripping some cream out of the other side. Happy eating!

German Beer Wars - The Oktoberfest Round

Since we live in Munich, we decide to include some Oktoberfest beers in the tournament. It is an important part of the beer culture here, after all!

Maybe not the wisest decision, as it isn't available year round and could be a problem to find in later rounds...

Pork chops with roasted winter veggies and warm goat cheese salad

Tonight featured 3 of the Big Six's Oktobefest beers.  Hofbrau vs Spaten, and then Löwenbräu vs one of Altenmünster brewery's offerings. We weren't really sure where to fit the Altenmünster, which was a beer we did not know. It's supposed to be a flavorful lager, but not sure if that means Helles, or something different. But we thought it would stand well with the Oktoberfest beers. Luckily, we were correct in that guess.

The Altenmünster was very tasty when compared to the Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier - it had a very clean taste, with good flavors, but was not overly hoppy. The Löwenbräu was good too, but was less carbonated and also felt a bit flat in taste when compared to the Altenmünster.

I was surprised at the outcome of the Hofbrau vs Spaten match, as I think of Hofbrau more in terms of a touristy (but fun) beerhall, not in terms of good beer. However, HB has proved to be more than just a good party...it's a really good beer! The Spaten was good, and it's hops had a little bit of sweetness to them. The Hofbrau, on the other hand, was very crisp and not too hoppy, . It was just a perfectly balanced beer. Both were good, but we prefered the note of the hops used in the Hofbrau. The strange thing was that the Spaten was much better in the bottle than it was in the Oktoberfest tents.

Hofbrau went on to an easy victory over the Altenmünster. Despite how good it tasted in the first round, it seemed light and watery when compared to the Hofbrau, which was sparkly without being overly carbonated.

Holiday Travel Wrap-up

It's been an interesting year in travel, to say the least....stranded once by the volcano, diverted a second time by it, a few bags "lost" and later returned, one broken, and one still missing....

So, it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone that travel issues once again changed my holiday plans!

Thanks to the winter storm, our flight to NYC was cancelled a couple of times, so we were not able to visit all the restaurants that Herr J had planned for us. Instead we stayed a few more days in coastal South Carolina.

Low Country Cuisine at 82 Queen

Our last night in South Carolina, we went to 82 Queen, for some great food. I had shrimp and grits (with bacon and cheddar topping!) to start, followed by crab cakes with red rice and green beans (also with bacon). And Herr J had She-Crab Soup, then a dish of mussels and shrimp. Excellent!

I love all the fresh seafood in South Carolina, and had crab cakes more than once. I miss crab cakes and good big shrimp here!

We did finally make it to NYC...in time to arrive late to our 10pm reservation for a fabulous meal at Asia de Cuba. We were on the balcony upstairs, overlooking the large communal table below.

Asia de Cuba

I can't recommend enough the Beef Dumplings Two Ways....one type looked like normal (large) fried dumpling but had the delicious spicy stuffing  of an empanada; the other a steamed dumpling in a sweeter soy based sauce.  The Miso-Glazed Black Cod was also wonderful, as it usually is at places such as here, Tao, and Nobu. I always have a hard time resisting that dish!

After a long day of travel, we had an unexpectedly entertaining show put on by a neighboring table in the bar area. The short version is that we first see a guy and a girl kissing, then a second girl comes arrives. We find out that the guy was meeting the second girl (whom he met on MillionaireMatch.com) there, but the first girl coincidentally was there and came over while he waited for his date. After many cheesy lines from this guy, some posturing and cattiness by the girls, he left with girl #1 while girl #2 thankfully had some self-respect and ended the date there. I only wish I could have seen the SMS's she was sending after he and the other girl left! 

Since we had less than 24 hours in the city, we had to prioritize and had time to run a few last errands (where Herr J was introduced to Sephora) and spend some browsing around B&H...a happy place for both of us! I finally found a good camera bag to replace the one South African Airways lost (the camera was not in it!) and a new filter for my 24-70mm lens.  This left us with time for an amazing lunch as Les Halles, which I had been looking forward to for a month. American beef, French style definitely works! If you're looking for a good steak in New York, try here. It's a deceptively simple meal, but with tender, melt in your mouth beef, and perfect crisp twice-fried frites. Yum!

I hope we can make another trip soon and catch up on everything we had planned for this trip!

Steak Frites at Les Halles

Gummi Farm

With all this winter, I'm in need of some sunny thoughts.

Trolli's "Milch Kuh" are cute and made with powdered skim milk. They're not bad, but they taste a bit too much like milk for me. However, they are full of calcium, and absolutely adorable.

It was hard to do much with disembodied heads, but I gave them some pig friends (from Katjes' "Fred Ferkel" gummis. No idea who he is, but he's cute and apparently also is available in bands of 4 heads stuck together (No, I don't understand, either).

Revenge Is Sweet

On Saturday, my neighborhood bath and body store had an amusing promotion...The Ex-Factor.

 

The flyer reads:

Revenge is sweet...and sometimes it pricks too.

Come to LUSH and take revenge on your ex. Disguise yourself, celebrate with like-minded people, write a message to your old flam on the back of this card and stick it on the Voodoo-Doll hanging in our window.

Free yourself from the old, and who knows who you might meet?

These little blue voodoo dolls actually are part of the Valentine's collection, and are one of LUSH's bath bombs (ylang-ylang scented). 

The description in store reads:

Ex-Factor Voodoo-bathball

Tear his arms off, hack his head off, or stab him in the heart. Then drown him, so that you also get something out of it.

On the website, the ad reads:

Well, not everyone can enjoy Valentine's Day. Especially with a broken heart, it's not easy to bear all the tokens of love around you. Put this little vanilla guy in your bath, when the heart balloons and teddy bears in the shops are just too much and watch as it slowly dissolves in water - representative of your heartache!

    

They hung the giant cardboard voodoo doll in the window, for everyone to put up their notes to exes. By the end of the day, they had collected German, Spanish, English, and the universal symbol for Lorena Bobbit.  

Some highlights:

I curse the day of your birth!!

I'm happy I got rid of you! :)

I want my innocence back!

Hello D, You have destroyed my family! Thankfully now I have someone better.

I hope you learn how to love. You won't be happy until you do!

Thanks for almost 4 year wrecked realtionship with you, P, it was hell! You are an idiot who never took advantage of the chances I gave you. Find someone else. Moron. You have had enough chances. I've found someone who I mean more to and who cares about my health and cancer. You were always the same. Moron, loser, idiot.

You stupid idiot. I hate you! The time I spent with you was a waste of time for me. I hope you have a hard life.

 
Interestingly enough, they don't all look like female handwriting! But if writing an anonymous note helps people feel better (and the store bring in customers), I say go for it!

The Fine Line between Hoarder and Expat

The world is increasingly global....I can now find some of my favorite Thai food products in the store in Germany and I can buy Cheerios worldwide. But i can't find sugar-free Jello in Germany, and my Cheerios cost $8 per box in Bangkok. While you can buy marshmallow fluff and Pop Tarts in the grocery store, most American products have a 50-100% markup in Germany and it's a bit of a craps shoot as to freshness.

Travel takes on new dimensions when you live abroad. It becomes not only a chance to see family and friends, but also a chance to stock up on the essentials.  It's an eye-opening experience to discover about yourself (or others) what really is "essential."  This revelation came to me almost 10 years ago in a Dallas Sam's Club, pushing a large cart full of dinner napkins, jelly beans, tampons, Cheerios, Sudafed and Skoal. An odd combination of things that we couldn't buy in Bangkok, or the local products were such poor imitations as to be unsuitable substitutes. But I had a list of things I and friends and colleagues needed, and "random" is the only word that captures it.

At the time, our company allowed us one huge shipment per year. I made some big orders from drugstore.com and asked my parents to box up some other things, including napkins, paper towels (non-existent there at the time), cereal, and Mac & Cheese. Dad very kindly did that and more, sending two entire flats of paper towels from Sam's and I think 27 boxes of cereal.... Those paper towels had a long world journey, to Bangkok, back to Dallas and then to Germany, where I finally used the last roll a few months ago!

It was great having a few important comforts of home, but my walk-in pantry in Bangkok was neck-high in paper towels and cereal, and boxes of shampoo, hair products, lotion, etc.

When I moved to Germany from Dallas, I was a bit wiser and packed from the start things I thought I'd need. This time it was great products like Lysol Kitchen Wipes, single-serve pita chips and Nabisco 100 Calorie Snack Packs....and lots of random stuff the movers packed up from the kitchen. Including boxes of toiletries (and the paper towels) remaining from living in Thailand.

The pita chips and Snack Packs didn't last long (Stacy's Pita Chips in Sea Salt, how could they last???), but I've found myself reversing course in the past year...trying to use up everything rather than accumulate more. I've used up almost all of the things left from Bangkok and am down to just 2 boxes of things from the move here. But still the closet has a couple containers of Lysol wipes, Dryel, Lubriderm lotion (doesn't burn on just-shaved legs!), and tasty low-carb protein shakes.

These days it's more about buying the things that are super expensive here...mostly clothes and shoes, English books, and DVDs. And only a few of the other essentials that do not exist here....Chocolate Chips, real vanilla extract, sugar free jello, cheap tissue tees from Target, those disposable toilet cleaner things, and warm clothes for the long winter. Winter hiking pants for $25 at Target or €100+ in Munich? Not much of a contest!

I've made major progress using up the stockpiles, but it's still a fight not to (over)stock up on goods while home for the holidays. There is just so much available and the prices much lower. Luckily the increasingly strict airline baggage policies and the European apartments' lack of storage space help combat that urge and keep from crossing the line into hoarder territory.